Sheet-metal roofing.



. J. F. GALBRAITH.

SHEET METAL ROOFING.

APPLICATION FILED PEB. 17., 1913.

3L 9 l @949% Patented Dec. 29, 1914.

ira

JOHN F. GALBRAITH, or SHELBYVILLE, TENNESSEE. l

SHEET-METAL ROOFING.

To all lwhom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN F. GALBRAITH, of Shelbyville, inthe county of Bedford and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sheet-Metal Roofing, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the joint between metal roofing shingles or plates, more pare, ticularly to the joint between shingles orplates in the row above with the shingles or plates in the row next below. The joint is of that kind which will permit the workman to begin at the comb or top of the roof and workdownward, instead of beginning at the eaves and working upward, as is now the more general practice. To this end the metal plate or shingle is provided along its lower edge with a U-fold, the bottom meinber of which projects as a flange below and beyond the folded edge to form a nailing edge, or in other words, an extension through which the nails are driven into the sheathing. The U-fold forms a socket to -receive the top .edge of the shingle or plate neXt below, which is the tongue member of the joint and is inserted into the fold between the outer and inner limbs of the same so as to be covered and protected. A joint of this kind is not new broadly considered.

My invention consists in a construction of the members of the joint, designed to effectively close it and make"it tight against the entrance of water into the joint and `between the members thereof, either by the action of capillary attraction or of driving rain. This construction can best be explained and understood by reference to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification in which- Figure l is a perspective view of several joined metal roofing shingles embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of one of the shingles to illustrate more clearly the formation of its top and bottom edges.

A is the shingle. the joint is at its top edge, and the socket member is at its bottom edge. rlhe socket member is formed by folding back .and on the under side of the shingle, the sheet metal along the lower end of the saine to form the first fold, thus producing the one limb a of the socket, and then reversing the direction of the fold to form the other limb b of the socket, the lower edge of this limb extending beyond and below the socket to form the Specification of Letters Patent.

The tongue member ofl Patented Dec. 29, i914.

Application filed February 17, 1913. Serial No. 748,884.

nailing border 'b'. The outer limb b is pinched to lie closely against the inner face o f the body o f the shingle. The lower port on of the pinched limb is bent or inclined ownward, as indicated at a, thus forming a socket space between the limbs a b, which is of greater dimensions than the mouth 0 ofthe socket,` which owing to the downward cant of the portion a toward the opposite limb is. quite narrow, and indeed little more in-width than a slit.

The tongue member of the joint, formed on the upper edge of the shingle, comprises a straight. flange or tongue proper al along the eXtreme top edge to facilitate the entrance of the 'tongue member into the slitlike mouth c of the socket member, and, two

parallel beads e e just back of the tongue d,

said beads being separated by an intervening valley or space f; and I prefer to form just back of the beads an offset or incline g, against which the inclined portion a of the upper limb may lit and bear, in order to closel the-joint more effectively.

In uniting two shingles, the tongue al of the tongue member on the upper edge ofthe shingle below is inserted into the nar-k now, slit-like mouth c of the socket member on the lower edge of the shingle above, and then the tongue member, moving easily over the flat smooth surface of the under limb b of the socket member, is pushed home into the socket member, the mouth c, owing to the elastic nature of the metal of which it 1s composed, opening to permit the passage of the beads e, e and the incline g, and then vshutting' down again to close the joint.

When the parts are in place, the beads bear against that portion of the top limb a in rear of the line of bend which defines the incline a in such manner as, in conjunction with the offset g and incline a, to form a joint which will effectually prevent rain or snow from being driven between the members of the joint. rl`he incline a lits down onto the correspondingoffset or incline g, the cant or downward bend of the incline a of the socket member tending to draw and hold it tightly and closely against the incline ofthe tongue member at the very en-il trance to thejoint, thus forming an effective initial obstacle to the entrance of water into the interior of the joint, such limited quantity of water as may nevertheless be forcibly driven at times in between the. faces of the parts a and g being prevented from. backioo ward passage, by capillary action, between the members of the joint, rst by the air space in the socket in advance of the front bead e, and secondly by the air space or valley f between the two beads e, e, which effectually traps and holds such slight quant1t of water as may work its way back of the front bead e-thus eectively protecting the interior of the joint from water contact.

rlhis joint can be used with good effect in metal Weather boarding, etc., and I desire to be understood as including any such obvious application of the same Within my claim.

Having described my invention and the' vthe socketvto provide' a nailing border b', and the upper fold a having a front portion a downwardly canted or inclined toward the faceof the lower fold b, and at its top edge a tongue member formed of a tongue proper al, two beadsa, e, back of the tongue with a valley f between said beads, and an incline or offset g back of the rearmost bead-the arrangement being such that, when the tonguel member of a shingle below is thrust home into the socket member of the shingle neXt above, the two beads c of the tongue member will bear against that portion of the upper fold a back of the line of bend of its front incline a', which latter will bear upon the corresponding incline g of the tongue member to close the mouth of the socket, there being within the joint an air space in advance between the front bead e and the closed mouth of the socket, and, in rear, another air space formed by the valley f, between the two beads e, as and for the purposes hereinbefore shown and set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN r. eiiLBnArrH.

A lWitnesses G. W. SHEARIN, Jr., J. E. HUFFMAN. 

